Undecided Destiny
by Alice Rivaeni
Summary: OC— Akata, whose family was killed by unknown forces, was taken in by Cao Yi, noble of Wei. But, Akata doesn't belong in Wei, so she must choose — Wei, Wu, or Shu? Her choice was made for her when a handsome Wu warrior saves her from Orochi's demonic forces.
1. Chapter 1

Akata sat straight up in her bed, cold sweat dripping down her neck. She ran her fingers through her dark hair, working out some of the knots while wondering why she had been cursed with these unending nightmares. She glanced around at her room, finally settling her gaze on her weapons and armor.

Quietly, she got out of her bed and made her way first to her armor. The black mithril slid effortlessly onto her slender body, feeling like a second skin to the young warrior. She pulled her hair — which came a little under her shoulders when she let it down — into a tight ponytail. Her bangs framed her face, contrasting drastically with her pale ivory skin.

She looked over to her weapons, glistening beautifully in the moonlight. Walking over, she picked one of the two swords up, admiring its craftsmanship.

Akata called them Dawn and Dusk: one was a thin yet strong onyx blade with a soft black hilt; its companion was the same, thin yet strong, though this blade was more of a steely white, with a hilt the same color.

She clipped on her scabbard, which was black metal with silver leaves engraved into it. She snapped her swords into their respective places at her hips, then strode to the doorway, where she paused.

She pulled a black cloak — with the same silver engravings as her scabbard — from its stand, fastening it around her neck. She kept the hood down — it didn't look to her like it was going to rain.

Then, she continued down the hall, which had two bedrooms on one side and three windows on the other. Once she had passed through, taking care not to wake anyone, she paused again.

She was at a large intersection. If she kept going straight, she would eventually get to the kitchens and the servants' quarters. Turning right would lead her to the castle armory, training grounds and the noble family's living quarters. As much as she wanted to, Akata could not bring herself to say goodbye to Lady Cao Yi, and so she turned left, which would lead her to the castle courtyard and gates.

"Where are you going?" A high-pitched voice asked from behind Akata. She stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that voice, though she wished she didn't.

Cai Wenji stood just a few feet from Akata. "Where are you going?" she asked the young warrior a second time, stepping out into the night.

Akata thought for a moment, though Wenji hardly noticed. "I do not know," she admitted. "A walk, perhaps."

"Equipped for battle," Wenji said doubtfully, eyeing her, "In the middle of the night?" When Akata looked away, the princess continued. "Does Lady Cao Yi know of this? Perhaps I should alert Lord Cao Cao, that he may —"

Akata rushed her, grabbing a fistful of her robe. She easily lifted the smaller woman off her feet. "Lord Cao Cao will not notice my absence, nor will anyone bring it to his attention." Though her voice was calm as always, Akata's big emerald eyes burned with a fury Wenji had never before seen, not even on the battlefield.

To those not close to Akata, she was always calm, collected, and maybe even aloof at times — she had learned to be nothing but. Only her closest friends knew how she really was — happy, strong, and wise beyond her years. Akata very rarely — if ever — gave her opinion to a stranger, but it was a common fact that she strongly opposed Cao Cao, and some would even go as far as to say that she hated the man.

Which, she very much did.

"Well, um…P-perhaps Lord Cao Cao does not need to be troubled by such rabble…" Cai Wenji whimpered.

"See to it that he is not." Akata said, then dropped Wenji heavily on the ground. She turned away, but stopped suddenly. Looking over her shoulder, she told Wenji, "Give my farewells to Lady Cao Yi. Tell her…" she hesitated, then said more quietly, "Tell her that Cao Cao's ways were never my own."

Cai Wenji stumbled to her feet, nodding furiously. "Of-of course, Lady Akata…" she curtsied low, then practically ran back into the castle.

Akata sighed. Wenji could not be trusted, so the young warrior had to get out of Wei territory before morning, just to be safe. She then continued down the path to the castle gates. They were closed, so she took the ladder over the wall, avoiding the guards stationed there. Once she had slipped over the gate, she chuckled. What good would guards do if they couldn't even see someone who was only a few feet away from them?

Akata cast one glance back at the gates, then, deciding she was far enough, let out a loud whistle. Luckily for her, she had already prepared for this trip. A large shadow separated itself from the shadows of the woods, and within seconds, the majestic black horse was standing in front of her.

Akata ran her slender hand through his thick black mane, checking the saddle and the bags. They were both made of a tough brown leather, and Akata saw the saddle was still fastened properly and the bags were still filled with the food and water that she had saved up over the last month or so.

Akata smiled at the warhorse, his eyes possessing more intellect than any wild animal could possess. Pulling herself onto the saddle, she gently prodded him on. "Come, Shadow Runner. We must find somewhere safe. Somewhere far from Wei and Cao Cao's evil." the large horse whinnied, then picked up the pace.

Soon, they were flying through the night, making great progress. That was when Akata first felt the earth quaking.

**( Author's Note: I'm sorry if any of you like Cai Wenji, I just needed someone to be the snobby princess.. R&R Please! (: )**


	2. Chapter 2

_**( Author's Note : I just wanted to clear up the outfits. I didn't like the outfits from Dynasty Warriors 1-5, so I'm using the ones from Dynasty Warriors 6 in this Fanfiction. Well, okay, obviously not for the Orochi and Samurai Warriors characters. They use their outfits from Warriors: Orochi 2 and Samurai Warriors 2.**_

_**As always, thanks for reading, R & R! :D )**_

It started out as just a series of small, subtle quakes — a tree shivering as she passed it; the ground shaking a bit here and there; ponds rippling. Akata didn't pay too much attention to it.

Shadow Runner seemed a bit apprehensive, though he continued on a full speed.

Akata thought she heard a loud, thundering sound in the distance, though she couldn't really be sure with the horse's hooves making so much noise. She tugged on the reins, and Shadow Runner eased to a stop. Akata slid herself off of the saddle with an inaudible thud, looking around herself.

She didn't know where she was, but she was sure it was no longer Cao Cao's territory. She heard the thundering, though this time it was much louder. She turned around, towards where she heard the noise.

And nearly screamed.

The ground had split in half, a mile wide and as long as she could see. On either side was an army — at least, it looked like an army, though not one Akata had ever seen before — of blue-skinned men, most of which were equipped with spears.

As she watched, the army on the right side separated from the left one, disappearing into the forest. Akata was sure they had seen her, and she knew she should run away, but it was as if her feet were rooted to the ground. She looked to her horse, who was staring at her worriedly. She shivered, then found she could move once more.

She hurriedly unhooked the saddle and the bags, so Shadow Runner wouldn't be as weighed down. She then pulled herself back up, and he didn't need her approval to start sprinting at full speed to avoid the demon-men at their backs.

They rode for nearly an hour before the horse couldn't take it anymore, and Akata leapt agilely from his back before he stopped completely.

After taking a long look at their surroundings, — the sun was waning, and the sky was turning a dark purple color — Akata patted the great warhorse, who was panting heavily.

She smiled as he nuzzled her shoulder, "I will go find a stream. If I'm not back here by the time the sun sets, head to the nearest military base. I will find you," she knew he understood what she was telling him. "Just please, do not go to a Wei base."

The great horse touched his forehead to hers, closing his red eyes. She stroked his mane, and then she was off, searching for a water source, all the while cursing herself for not at least bringing one of the canteens.

She was shoved into a tree unexpectedly, as another violent earthquake jostled everything around her. She gasped as a huge tree came crashing down, only two feet from where she was standing. Everything stopped as suddenly as it had began five minutes later, and Akata cautiously edged her way through the forest now.

She froze as soon as she entered a clearing. There was a stream, but she had a feeling she wasn't alone. She looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"…went in here…" Her head whipped in the direction of the voice, and her swords snapped out of their scabbards. "…couldn't have…" That came from the other side of her.

Then, a stick snapped in front of her, and she heard cursing. "Shh!" another said from behind her.

Her breathing becoming slightly shallow, she tightened her grip on her weapons. _This is it. I'm trapped.. This can't be how it ends.. Can it? _

A moment later, someone came crashing into the clearing, followed by three others. The men all had grayish-blue scaly skin, with white hair and gold eyes. They were a medium height and very skinny.

Normally, Akata wouldn't have been afraid of four small, poorly trained men, as she would be able to dispatch them easily. However, after the small men fanned out, cutting off her escape routes, three huge, bulbous, disgusting snake men also emerged, each wielding a wicked edged halberd.

"It's just a woman," one of the smaller men said, obviously disappointed.

A big snake man smacked him, "Don't be stupid! She's a warrior. Just look at her clothes, and her weapons! Just what Lord Orochi wants!"

"She might've stole 'em." one from behind her said.

"I say we test her out…" another large one said.

Akata looked around at them, grimacing at each of their devilish grins.

The small ones all stepped forward, their smiles growing wider.

She raised her swords in front of her defensively, her emerald eyes narrowing dangerously.

One of the big men in front of her was about to lunge toward the young warrior when there was a sudden, loud crash from Akata's left side. She, unlike all the others, didn't stop and stare dumbly at whatever made the noise, she kept her eyes forward and jumped onto the demon-man that had nearly lunged at her.

_If I'm going to die, _she thought furiously, _it will be fighting!_


	3. Chapter 3

Her foot landing squarely in his face, Akata grinned at the satisfactory crunch his nose made under her boot. She then pushed off, sending him flying backwards.

She used the momentum to twist herself in the air, slashing out with Dusk, stabbing in another direction with Dawn. She hit the ground feet-first, spinning quickly. She saw two large ones and one small one on the ground, dead, and she grinned.

She brought her swords up barely in time to deflect a blow from a fourth small one, catching a flicker of red and brown as she did so. Akata brought her foot up, kicking just under his chin and effectively breaking his neck._ Four down, three to go._

Except that when she turned, there wasn't just three left. She saw that the other original three were already dead, and three new large and two new small men had taken their place. Not only that, but two new men — _human _men — had joined, and were now fighting.

One was obviously the flash of red and brown Akata had seen — he had light brown hair and the red clothing of a Wu officer. She could also see that, even from here, he was handsome. The other was more pale, taller, and had black hair, but also wore red clothing.

She saw that a smaller one was coming up behind the brown haired warrior, who was already busy fighting both a large and small snake man, and would most likely end up killing him.

Akata sprinted toward him, swords leading the way. They sunk deep into the demon's back, and she hissed in his ear, "Not him, snake_._" She shoved him down, and spun to face the next foe.

She threw Dawn at one of the demons fighting the black haired man, catching him in the thigh. He screamed in pain, falling, and she smiled wickedly. She sunk Dusk into the thigh of the nearest enemy, who also cried out in pain. She twisted the blade, then yanked it out.

When she looked back up, she saw both men had already finished theirs off, and they were watching her appreciatively. The black haired man brought Dawn back to her. She smiled, took it and, seeing no other immediate threat, snapped it back into its scabbard. "Everyone alright?" he asked.

Akata and the other man both nodded.

"Even you?" he asked, eyeing Akata suspiciously. "You took down…" he counted the bodies that littered the ground. "Five. Two of which were nearly three times your size." Akata looked away from his gaze, and he smiled. "Well, may I ask your name?"

"Akata Feng," she said, automatically.

The brown haired man looked as though a light had been turned on in his head. "The Fengs'.. I've heard of them. They once served Wei, right?"

"You are of Wei?" the other asked.

Akata shook her head, "No. No, I'm a ronin. My mother and father might have served Cao Cao, but I do not." she hesitated, then added, "His ways are.. Unagreeable."

"You are officers of Wu?" Akata asked them, gesturing to their armor.

The brown haired man nodded, "Yes. I am Lu Xun, this is Zhou Yu."

Akata gasped, surprised she had not been able to recognize them. "The.. The two greatest strategists of Wu.. Out here?" She asked, hesitantly.

Lu Xun nodded. "We are trying to learn of these demon-men… Did they happen to mention who they were?"

"They said something about a Lord Orochi?" Akata said in a questioning tone.

The two men exchanged dark looks. "We had feared as much…" Zhou Yu said, searching the surrounding woods. He then shook his head. "They call themselves Hydra. They worship a god, this Orochi, or Serpent King.. We don't know what he wants."

"A warrior," Akata said, remembering what the large Hydra had said to the others.

Lu Xun looked at her curiously, as did Zhou Yu, so she explained. "The Hydra, the large one, he said something about Orochi wanting warriors. I don't know why, possibly a challenge?"

"So, Orochi wants warriors. That's.. something to think about." Zhou Yu said, pursing his lips.

Lu Xun was shoved into Akata as another unexpected thundering crash resounded all around them, and promptly knocking them all off their feet. This time, she felt as though her stomach had dropped. Wind was rushing down, blowing everything around.

Horrorstruck, Akata realized they were floating upwards, so forcefully that she couldn't stand back up. She looked around to see the sky was a deathly black-purple color, one that was pretty, although not something she wanted to see as opposed to the normal blue.

A tree was shaken so violently that it fell over, and would have crushed Akata, had Lu Xun not pulled her away from it. She could only sit, terrified, as the world she had come to know was almost certainly being destroyed.

…

Little did she know, however, that it was not only China that suffered this destruction. Nearly a thousand years apart, Japan was also thrown into this chaos.

Orochi, seeking the mightiest warrior to overcome him among these mortals, took the best warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of China and the best samurais of the Warring States period of Japan, merging the two together in his own new world.

He then unleashed his army of demons, the Hydra, unto the land, searching for someone who could provide him with a decent challenge.

The Serpent King certainly did not expect what he found, however disappointed he tried to seem.

_**( Author's Note : Short but to the point, right? Let me know what you think of it so far, and if I portrayed Lu Xun and Zhou Yu good or not.. Thanks for reading! :D )**_


End file.
